The purpose of The Christian Working Woman is to equip and encourage Christians in the workplace to love Christ more, to live their daily lives by biblical principles, and to go to their jobs as ambassadors for Jesus Christ. For more information on our ministry go to: www.christianworkingwoman.org.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

An Attitude Checkup

Don't you
think Christians should have positive outlooks and attitudes? We have so much to be positive about; we have
hope and a future. And yet, sadly, many
of us are just as negative as those who don't know Jesus.

Chuck
Swindoll writes: "The longer I live the more I realize the impact of
attitude to life.Attitude, to me, is
more important than the past, than education, than money...than what other
people think or say or do.It is more
important than appearance, giftedness or skill.The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude
we will embrace for the day.We cannot
change our past...we cannot change the inevitable.The one thing we can do is play on the one
string we have, and that is our attitude.I am convinced life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we react to
it."

I
agree with Chuck; life is not so much what cards we've been dealt, as it is how
we handle and react to the circumstances of our lives.How are you doing in the attitude
department?Staying positive or falling
into negative territory too often.

Positive
people aren't just born that way; they work at it.If you'd like your attitude to be more
positive, I have a suggestion.First,
make a list of the things that happen to you which tend to destroy your
positive attitude.Mentally walk through
a few of your days and ask yourself what are the things that get to you.

I
call them "negative pulls."You'll probably list things like a co-worker or a boss who drives you
crazy; too much work to do; unrealistic expectations from other people; lack of
cooperation; office politics, interruptions, etc.Putting them in writing helps you realize
just what is ruining your attitude.

Now,
once you've done that, the next thing is to fight back.Not with your own power, but with the power
of God within you.This is where
Christians have a great advantage, because we can call on God to give us the
strength to fight back.

I
suggest you read your list to the Lord.Say, "Lord, here are the things which happen to me that tend to
ruin my attitude.I'm asking you to help
me fight back.I know the fight is in my
mind, and it must be done by faith.If
you will empower me, by your grace, I will work at being a positive person to
bring glory to you."That is a big
first step in our attitude check-up.

Paul
wrote to the Ephesians in chapter 4: "You
were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self,
which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the
attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in
true righteousness and holiness.”(4:22-24)

The
old self is negative; let's put it off.The new self, given to us when we are born from above, has a new
attitude of mind, and like Jesus, it will be positive and encouraging.By God's grace, let's determine to develop
and maintain positive attitudes for the glory of Jesus Christ.